Raising a child with Autism
The Kildare Nationalist spoke to Newbridge woman named Ciara Horgan, who offered her thoughts on raising a child with Autism:
"Chloe is in Scoil na Naomh Uilig, Newbridge and is attending the special needs unit within the school. Our experience overall in the school has been excellent so far, and I feel very lucky to have her in such a great school so close to our home".
"She is integrated with the main stream classes on a daily basis for P.E., music and art. She will go down to the class along with her special needs assistant to do this".
She added: "Most days she is happy enough to take part and other days not so much. The class she attends for these subjects are also so welcoming to Chloe and understanding of her needs".
"She along with her class are also included in school tours with the main stream class and also take part in the school assembly every week".
Ms. Horgan also said that she worried about her daughter being bullied for being who she is, and about how she will perceive the world and her peers once she hits puberty.
However, she still maintains that she is proud to have a child with AS: "Raising Chloe has thought me so much more in life then I could every teach her and I feel very lucky to have such a beautiful young girl that I get to call my daughter".
She also expressed dissatisfaction over how the Department of Education are handling AS resources: "I don't feel the department of education are doing enough at the minute to help children with special needs get an education. This is a basic human right and it's just not good enough. I feel its discrimination".
"Like I said I feel very lucky to have Chloe in such an amazing school, but I had so many sleepless nights stressing out about what school she would be allocated, if she would even have been allocated one. I think the minister for education has a lot to answer for on this subject".
Further information about Autism (AS) and Autism friendly spaces can be found by visiting www.asiam.ie.
The Invisible Children report by AsIAm can also be found online as a PDF.
